Walking with fear
by EmanresuSihtLord
Summary: Follow Harry and the friends he make during his time in hogwarts. Neville is the actual boy who lived, the prophecy isn't heard by Dumbledore. Powerful magical creatures! James and Lily alive! please don't hate me after first chapter I have plans for them I promise. Manipulative Dumbledore! Evil Snape! Planned pairings, HP/OC NL/LL DG/TD SB/AB NT/RL FD/BW.
1. Chapter 1: prologue

Hello readers :)

I am usually one of you :D

So I like reading Harry Potter fanfiction, and that would be the beggining of why I'm writing this story. You see, I wanted to read this story myself... but it sadly didn't exist. Well at least I gave up searching for it after roughly 20 minutes of fruitlessness using tags and requests and all between.

Now that I've come this far and actually posted a chapter I guess it doesn't matter if I find something similar to read I think I will end this story no matter how long it takes. Considering how much time I spent on this chap I hope I get better at writing in the meantime or I'll spend to much time in front of the computer.

Needless to say I have no idea how long time it will take between updates. Hopefully never more then two weeks.

After this chapter you might wonder how bad I am at searching for the stories I want to read, rest asured that the changes from the original storyline in this chapter are only the beggining. What I wanted was a very... very... I can't say very to many times here, odd pairing. Now, the story wont be centered around the romance of the pairing, I think/hope. I'm also fairly sure someone has written a similar pairing somewhere in a 1-15k words fanfic, but I have been unable to find it, and I seriously doubt anyone mad enough to think about it except me would go all out and write a long fic with this pairing. And no, I wont spoil the surprise by asking any here if you've read it. You can tell me later when the pairing is revealed, (Imagine me laughing evily).

This chapter is probably very similar to the beginning of a lot of stories, it's basically what happened at the end of the first war, with my changes to it.

The story I have planned will follow the main chars through hogwarts and continue afterwards, tbh I haven't even planned an ending. I don't like those for some reason.

As said before I'm usually the one reading. And on top of that, reading from my cellphone. I find it more comfortable. Because of this I have no idea if the text is going to be overly compressed hopefully not ;) And I'm standing on shaky legs while using this site from the computer, I don't even know if I have done the spacing between the paragraphs correctly. Add two spaces after a paragraph, it said... removed the two spaces it did, when save the doc I did. Ik Yoda imitation terrible idea. Probably terribly performed too.

before you start readin I would also like to say that this feels like something I pulled out of the rear end of a slime, I don't know if it will always feel like that when writing a chapter. Nonetheless critisism is very appreciated it would make me feel like I can at least improve on something ;D

Reason for rating: Constant Vigilance! No but really, I think with what I've planned, the story might be... not siuted for younger years at times. I can leave warnings before chapters where I notice things get to much, so to say. I don't even know if it will get to that. No nothing sexual planned, I do not feel comfortable writing that, or posting it at all. :D Although I can't deny I like reading it wink wink. Someone whispers "_perv"_ from afar.

now this feels like a long an and not a short one so I'll just cut it here and obliviate the memory of me ever writing that last paragraph and put a repelling charm on it. Honestly you'd probably just end up throwing up if I ever tried writing something like that. Might even grow sterile if you're unlucky. Yes that was a threat, don't ask for it. Anyway when u find out the pairing u'll just find this hilarius anyway. On with the story...

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any character or creature from the books. Neither do I own anything from star wars used in the an.

* * *

"Severus," the name came floating through the door of, doom, if you asked the person being called. Well... him and almost every other witch or wizard who had ever studied at Hogwarts. The man, Severus, was thoroughly annoyed at the moment. Being summoned from his work in the dungeons of the large castle, for a meeting with the headmaster in one of the higher towers, was not what he wanted during his first day off after the school year ended. He was currently alone in the castle with the headmaster and the house elves. All other teachers had gone on vaccation.

"Make it quick, Dumbledore." the potion master snapped, as he entered the headmasters office, seeming to forget he was currently talking to his boss. "Forgive me but I can't leave the lab for long," he added quickly to save himself, when he realised who he was talking to.

"That's alright, Severus. I understand you don't have time for a lemon drop then?" The headmaster began, his eyes twinkling. "I just wanted to ask a small favour." Dumbledore said, looking down his nose through his half moon glasses "you see, I believe I've found a seer who is interested to become a divination teacher here at hogwarts," he spoke, eyes still twinkling, waiting for a reaction from Severus. It didn't take long for the teacher to realise what the headmaster wanted him to do. "You want me to test this seer… and see if it's not just a trick?" although it was posed as a question he already knew what the answer would be.

"Yes." came the dreaded reply from the headmaster. "Why don't you just do it yourself, Albus?" The Potions master asked. The question was very valid Albus Dumbledore was the headmaster after all. "I'd prefer to do it myself as well," Albus said, thinking while looking towards his familiar that sat on the windowsill high up in the room. A beautiful crimson phoenix with hints of gold on some of its feathers. "But I'm sure you know I'm quite busy during the summer with my position in the wizengamot as well as on the ICW, I simply wont have time for it." he said, his feathery friend flying across the room and landing on his shoulder as he finished.

Severus knew he'd end up interviewing the seer whether he liked it or not, And like it he did not, The headmaster was simply too difficult to argue with when he put his mind on something. "Alright Albus, I'll do it" the response was delivered with a famous sneer, the potion master was not happy with the situation, true seers were normally very... odd people. "Good, good. Her name is Sybill Trelawney, I want you to schedule a meeting with her." Albus said, a tad sad that Snape was clearly one hundred percent against the idea, he could only hope the potions master did the job professionally. "Preferably before May, we need time to prepare for the coming term after all. I expect you to inform me of when your meeting with Sybill is, at breakfast tomorrow," he finished.

"Of course," drawled Severus, clearly not happy with the day so far, before he left the office and stalked back toward his potions lab in the dungeons to continue tending to his unfinished potions. He had entered the office annoyed but right now as he left it he was very close to breaking the gargoyle guarding the hidden entrance. Needless to say the gargoyle kept it's distance as Snape walked by with his cloak billowing behind him.

* * *

There was a lot going on in the usually unoccupied cottage at Godric's Hollow, a small village in england that was only visible to those with magic, the couple that had recently moved in had invited some their friends over to help and renovate the place. One might wonder why James and Lily Potter was moving into a small, worn down, cottage. When they were in fact amongst the richest in the country and owned small yet very luxurious unplottable castle.

The answer would be obvious to anyone taking a closer look at Lily and seeing the bulging stomach, promising a third member soon joining the family. A castle is no place for a small child to grow up in after all. "We're almost finished now" came the voice of James, as he connected the fireplace to the floo network. "Just the main bedroom left. Mind if I help you there? I have a few… Ideas," a well built man with short black hair said suggestively, as he grinned widely.

"Flower, did we set up animagus wards?", James asked a schooled expression on his face. "no?", Lily half asked, half replied while she frowned at the black haired man, her green eyes clearly showing how irritated she was by his childish comment. "Good... makes the chase more fun. Better run snuffles!", James said at the same time as he sent of a overpowered voiceless stinging curse towards the other man, watching as he yelped and quickly transformed into a large black dog and ran away. Wasting no time James quickly bolted after him into the backyard.

"Please Remus, help me finish the bedroom before they return." Lily begged as she watched her husband disappear through the backdoor, wondering how she ended up with such a large group of twenty year olds acting like preteens. The slightly ragged man stood up from a chair before he followed her upstairs to help with the bedroom after a quick and tired yes, the way he looked right now one might have confused him for a grandfather to one of the others. But looks are very deceiving in this case because he was actually the same age as the others to the year.

"So Lily… are you sure the place is warded enough?" he asked after they had set up a large wardrobe next to the queen siced. Lily gave him a sad look, trying to look happy when reminded of the need for heavy protection wherever you went was not easy. "Yes, I think so." Lily said before she started filling the wardrobe with clothes. "But don't worry about it, Frank Longbottom is coming over with Peter later to help setting up a fidelius charm around the house." she added to calm her friend when she noticed he was becoming too worried. A sad silence filled the room as they kept working.

The fidelius being one of the strongest protective wards in the entire world as it completely hides the object being protected. Making everyone and everything unable to see it unless the chosen secretkeeper tells them where it is. This is one of the most secure protections one can get as long as the person chosen as secret keeper could be trusted.

You might wonder why anyone would need such protections in the first place, the reason this time is the same as most other times. War, the wizarding world was in the middle of a war based on the 'purity' of ones blood. The more generations you could track backwards and still only find wizards and witches in your family the purer your blood was considered. Lily was a muggleborn, a term given those who had no magical parents, giving her the lowest possible blood purity according to the supremacists, when you add the fact that both Lily and James were actively fighting against the pureblood movement it's easier to understand why they needed such heavy protection.

"AAAARGH I yield!" came a yell from outside, Lily sighed tiredly "could you fix dinner while I finish here? And make sure they don't rip apart everything out there?" she asked before, another yell was heard from the backyard followed by a small crash. Remus rolled his eyes and muttered "alright," before he left the room to cook dinner.

* * *

"Are you serious?" Remus asked as he walked outside to call the others in for dinner, seeing the man trapped between the horns of a stag grin madly at him he instantly regretted his wording. "That would be me," came the quick and happy reply of the man currently unable to move. Remus groaned before he said dinner's ready, in a matter of seconds the stag that held the man hostage transformed into James.

"Alright let's eat, I'm starving. Haven't eaten since breakfast, and chasing this flea nest is taxing" James said before he ran inside. "Well come on, let's eat Sirius" remus said before he walked in after James.

After dinner Remus had to excuse himself saying he was too tired to stay up. This would seem strange to most as it was no more than seven o clock, but those at the dinner table who knew the condition Remus lived with and what day it was yesterday understood him fully and bid him farewell before they did the last changes to the house.

soon after they were finished Frank Longbottom arrived with Peter, ready to perform the fidelius charm. "So, who's it going to be?" Longbottom asked. "Black." came the immediate reply from James. "I'm sorry James but I don't think that's a very good idea." Sirius said.

"Why not?" Lily asked, "Planning to betr…" James didn't get any longer as Lily glared at him hard enough to burn a hole through his head. "No James, I just think it's to obvious." Sirius said. "I think it's better if we chose peter and use me to put them of the trail." he finished his idea.

"Are you sure Sirius?", James asked with a frown. "Are you sure this is a good idea?", while Peter was also a close friend, he didn't share the same bond James and Sirius did. The two had been as close as brothers since they met during their first year at hogwarts. Of course all four of them James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter had formed a group of famous pranksters while at hogwarts.

The 'marauders', when the three others found out Remus was a werewolf, they didn't shun him, instead they decided to become animaguses in order to help him during his full moon transformations. Peter was a rat, Sirius a large black dog and James became a stag. The group was formed and they decided to give each other nicknames based on their animals.

Sirius got the name Padfoot, Remus Moony, James Prongs, and Peter Wormtail. The four of them were always close but since they left hogwarts they slowly stopped using their nicknames. It seemed a bit childish and some who knew the marauders since their hogwarts time would give them wary looks when they spoke the nicknames.

nonetheless James and Sirius was by far the closest of them, as James family had basically adopted Sirius Black into their family after his relationship with his own family had only worsened as he was sorted into gryffindor at hogwarts. The school has four student houses, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. The Black family had a proud history of always being sorted into Slytherin and that house had a long rivalry with the Gryffindor house. The closeness this created was why the reason behind James questioning the decision to change their planned secretkeeper.

"Of course I'm sure, it will put us all in a safer spot, well except peter but he has agreed." Sirius replied calmly. "I'm simply a too obvious choice" he finished. "Well… if you're sure, I'm all for it… You can start Frank, Peter's the secretkeeper."

Frank began chanting and soon enough there was a flash of bright light surrounding the entire building and a possibly even brighter one surrounding Peter. "It is done," Longbottom said, looking around himself confusedly until Peter said "James and Lily potter lives at Potter cottage in Godric's Hollow."

* * *

The next morning at hogwarts was dawning and Dumbledore, sat at the breakfast table with Severus, expecting a date. "Have you scheduled a meeting yet, Snape?" he asked expectantly while his eyes sparkled. The irritated reply came quickly from Severus Snape, "yes I have." Dumbledore's eyes sparkled even more as he asked, "and when is the meeting?" Snape looked at him and replied, "April, 25th of April."

"That's good enough," Dumbledore said as he kept eating, looking out over the empty hall that just a couple of days ago had been filled with happy children excited for summer break. "By the way Albus, Sybill Trelawney is she a descendant of Cassandra Trelawney?", Snape asked.

"Yes she is." Dumbledore stated, eyes twinkling madly. "Well I think that would raise her chances of being a true seer then," Snape said. "yes indeed," Dumbledore said. "That's the only reason I'm even considering testing her for the gift."

There had been many who thought the empty spot on the teachers table would be easy to get since none really wanted to teach it and the school would be desperate for a teacher. Many of those who had made earlier applications had claimed to be seers but they were obviously just lying to get their job, that became quite obvious when the interviews took place.

Not wanting to leave the students without a divination teacher or with a divination teacher who was a fraud, he was quite happy and filled with hope when he received an application with the name Trelawney.

* * *

The 25th of april came around quickly and the evening saw Severus Snape sitting alone in a pub waiting for Sybill to arrive. Taking a sip from his drink and scowling he muttered ten minutes late to himself.

After entering the muggle pub five minutes before scheduled he had quickly set up muggle repelling charms all over the place and placed the bartender under a confundus charm. Just as he was about to get up and leave the door opened soon after and a tall skinny woman with blonde hair walked in and sat in front of him.

"Sybill Trelawney?" he asked with a sneer on his face. "Yes, yes… that's me." Trelawney said. "I'm Severus Snape, potions master at hogwarts. Headmaster Dumbledore has requested that I interview you in his stead." Severus said. "I understand that getting a true vision of the future is something that happens involuntary," Snape began as he removed a potion from his robes.

"This potion will bring your mind closer to your magical core and increase the chances for visions for a short period of time, I suggest you take it but you don't have to." Snape finished as he handed over the potion to Trelawney.

"It's alright I'll take it, if it helps my chances of becoming a professor at Hogwarts." she replied. Looking at the potion with interest, before she downed it in one gulp grimacing in distaste.

Snape looked at her before starting the interview, asking about different methods to see the future. Just as he was about to lose hope on the seer having a vision, Trelawney suddenly froze and in a trance like voice said

_"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches_

_born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies_

_and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not_

_and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives_

_the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies" _

As soon as she was finished and Severus realised what he had heard he started to walk out of the pub in a hurry. He had important news to deliver for his lord… yes the potions master at hogwarts was indeed a servant of the dark lord mentioned in the prophecy. "Severus are we done? Did I get the job?" came the voice of trelawney before he managed to reach the door. "Yes of course the job is yours," he said quickly before he exited the pub, cancelling the repelling charms.

* * *

after finishing her drink Sybill walked over to the counter to pay for her drink. "Five more pounds please." came the voice from the bartender after counting the coins on the counter.

"Your friend left without paying." he explained while he waited for her to pull up the extra money.

before she had the chance to hand over the coins however she froze and started citing a new prophecy Snape's potion had not yet completely worn of.

_"The one to bring the worlds together is coming._

_ He will bring all magics together, with the help of the saviour of our world and his equal in understanding magicals._

_With his loved one nothing will stand in their way._

_ together they must work to save both worlds from a threat greater than any before"_

The bartender studied her for a moment before saying "I think your friend may have spiked your drink before he left." Trelawney looked at him, confused for a moment, before she said, "oh no don't worry about it, it's just a rare variant of a disease I have." with a small smile, a practised excuse that never failed around muggles. She then finished handing over the coins before leaving the pub

the second prophecy went unheard by all except the bartender.

* * *

As Snape entered his house he quickly lifted his left sleeve revealing hideous tattoo resembling a skull with a snake slithering out of its mouth. Pressing his wand to the tattoo he quickly channeled some of his magic into it calling his lord to him.

"I trust this is… important. Severus." came a whispering voice from behind him. "My lord," he said as he slowly turned around. Facing a quite handsome man, he bowed his head before continuing. "I have recently heard a prophecy concerning someone with the power to… vanquish you my lord."

The dark lord wasted no time and dove straight into the potions master's mind causing quite a bit of pain in his head. He didn't have to search long before he found what he was looking for. He watched, while the prophecy was being shown in front of him, his mood darkening every second as the seer spoke of a young baby defeating him.

"you have brought me... bad news... Severus." the dark lord said as he reached for his wand. "Crucio," the simple word was screamed from the lords mouth as a invisible spell took hold of Severus causing him to fall to the floor in painful spasms.

"now for your reward, what to give… hmm?" the dark lord said as he thought about it. Severus seeing a chance to get closer to someone who he had long loved, quickly asked his lord a favour, "My lord, the prophecy… I know of two who it could concern, both the longbottoms, and the potters," he spat as he came to the second name, "both of those families are waiting children at the end of july." he continued "I already know this, get to your point." the dark lord said impatiently.

"I was wondering if you could spare Lily while getting rid of the potter child?" Severus finished his request and held his breath as he waited for the reply. The dark lord studied him as he thought about it, "I will not personally take care of the potters I'll let Bellatrix Lestrange go with a group of death eaters to take care of them, you can convince her." he said, "I will take care of the longbottoms in the meantime."

The dark lord was more concerned with the pure blooded child after all. Severus paled as he realised he would never be able to convince Lestrange of not hurting Lily, but he'd give it a try.

"now we only have a small problem to deal with," the dark lord said. "We need to find out where the potters are hiding, come here severus. Let me call the inner circle... see if they have any… useful information," the word useful being spoken as if he doubted they could ever bring him any good news.

As Severus came closer and revealed his mark on the left forearm, The lord raised his wand and pressed it tightly to the tatto. Pushing his own magic into it everyone else bearing the mark could feel themselves being summoned. After barely ten seconds the room was now hosting several more individuals, all wearing a white mask closely resembling a skull. They waited patiently for their lord to speak, some the dark lord noticed with disgust, in fear.

"Voldemort you have summoned us," one of them spoke, not having enough time to regret using the name before he was engulfed in a bright green light. The man fell in heap on the floor lifelessly with no signs of injury, apart from clearly being dead that is. "Do not say my name!" Voldemort shouted, he needed it to be feared by all. Fear was one of his strongest weapons after all. Most who fought him were so scared they almost forgot they had a wand.

"I need to find the potter family. Anyone with useful information will be… rewarded" he spoke slowly, looking at everyone present. After he finished one of the men stepped forward, shivering slightly he said "They are hiding under the fidelius charm." The dark lord was annoyed by his statement. "That is known to almost everyone in magical world." he said, "Crucio," he incanted, watching with a smile as the man fell to the floor in pain. When the man had recovered from his pain he said, voice barely audible "The potters… the potters lives in Potter cottage... in Godric's Hollow." He just finished his sentence before he passed out on the floor.

"Wonderful newssss." Voldemort hissed, something he did on accident when very happy about something, or intentionally when he wanted to intimidate someone as it was quite scary to hear. "Bellatrix, you will be taking three death eaters with you to Godric's hollow during the night on July 31st… Snape, would like it if you didn't hurt the pretty one." He laughed as he saw the crazed expression on Bellatrix and the horrified expression on Severus.

* * *

It was the early morning of August, Albus Dumbledore headmaster of hogwarts was just walking into the great hall, as he heard a startled cry from the teachers table at the far end of the hall. "Severus what's wrong" he asked but got no reply as the potions master walked straight past him and out of the school apparating as soon as he exited the wards.

Seeing a paper on the table at the teacher's seat he got curious and walked over seeing it was the daily prophet, the main newspaper, he sat down to get a better look at it.

** Two pureblood families nearly brought to an end!**

After seeing the headline the headmaster frowned, he didn't like the implications that someone was trying to end pure blooded wizarding lines.

** yesterday the homes of two ancient and most noble families were attacked by he who must not be named! families Longbottom and Potter, now only have their newborn children to rely on to continue their lines.**

** Yesterday the Frank and Alice Longbottom where murdered by he who must not be named. Luckily enough their son Neville Longbottom somehow managed to survive, with naught but a scar on his forehead. Some witnesses who were nearby when it happened said they saw a man walk into their house followed by three flashes of green light, the killing curse no doubt.**

** now the question to how a child, barely a day old managed to survive the killing curse remains unanswered. However I've heard a few suggestions and speculations that it might be some sort of sacrificial magic at work, from one of his parents.**

** At the same time as the Longbottoms were murdered, the Potter family at the time residing under a fidelius charm was attacked by you know who's second in command Bellatrix Lestrange. Both parents are currently lying in st Mungo's hospital, the doctors believing they've suffered from cruciatus curse under a long period of time.**

** When questioned, the doctors claimed the Potters would probably remain catatonic for the rest of their lives. If they are to wake up from their current coma at all. The third and last of their family Harry James Potter, born just hours before the Longbottom child, was found with a homenum revelio spell. He was found, with a powerful sleeping charm on him, hidden beneath the floorboards of their home.**

** Both the Longbottoms and Potters were known as active opposers of he who must not be named. Considering the recent murders it's easy to understand that you know who wanted these families out of the way. As Harry has no more family to live with he will probably be sent away and hidden from the public until he starts at hogwarts. According to Augusta Longbottom, Neville will be staying with her until his schooling at hogwarts begins. However, right now they will be staying at the hospital for proper care.**

After finishing the article the headmaster's frown had deepened, both families had been part of his secret organisation, the order of the phoenix, which was formed simply for the reason to put an end to the dark lord's reign of terror. While he secretly agreed with most of the lord's points, he wanted the muggles and muggleborns to be more as servants, rather than dead as the dark lord prefered it. If history had taught him anything it was that whenever wizards and muggles worked as equals, it always ended with wars and persecution of wizards. There was a reason for the international statute of secrecy after all.

he quickly rose and called for his familiar. The beautiful red phoenix flamed in and took them away to st mungus, more specifically right next to the bed where little Harry was currently sleeping. Putting him in a small crib he quickly apparated to his relatives, the Dursleys, were he could create bloodwards to protect him from anyone with ill intent to enter their home.

Leaving him outside with a note saying Lily and James had been tortured to insanity and told them to look after the child. He had no doubts they would treat him poorly as soon as he could do anything of use to them, Dumbledore had sensed a great magical potential in the Potter child and wanted to be seen as someone who he could trust. such a powerful child could be a great ally, and all he needed to do was be overly caring when he came to hogwarts Dumbledore thought. And if he was lucky the Potter child might actually not even need persuasion too see the muggles as lesser beings after being raised by its worst. He could always hope.

Before he left he put the child under several spells keeping him safe from infections, and keeping him healthy overall, as well as a weak repelling charm only meant to keep away the bugs and animals around the house from disturbing him before the dursleys took him in.

* * *

The next morning saw Dumbledore reading yet another shocking article, while he himself also seemed shocked, it wasn't for the same reason as everyone else. He understood that when someone hiding under a fidelius was betrayed hell would soon follow. There was bound to be someone around who knew who the secret keeper was, and wanting revenge. He was shocked by the fact that they had chosen Peter as secret keeper instead of sirius.

Well the article didn't say Peter was the secret keeper, quite the opposite in fact. But Albus knew Sirius would never have betrayed the Potters. The article detailed a encounter between Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, Peter had apparently shouted that Sirius had betrayed the Potters before the street had been blown up. A clever move from Peter, especially as he had somehow managed to escape without notice. Only leaving a finger to make it seem like Sirius had murdered him.

The headmaster was thinking about what to do, his face hardened as he realised it would ruin his reputation if he vouched for Black. He also considered the fact that The powerful child, Harry, might be less inclined to see him as a father figure if he already had Sirius to go to. His decision was final, he would let Black stay in prison, maybe he could find a way to get him out after he had the Potter child under his thumb.

* * *

Ps. Everything is proofread twice, believe it or not, and it still feels like shit. Well everything is proofread except an at the top, for some reason I have put a repelling charm there :)

If you find any recurring grammatical errors or spelling errors please tell me. Wouldn't want to write like crap and not knowing I succeded with it.

I don't know how the beta reading system works but I guess I would appreciate someone proofreading an extra time for me. I've heard it's common to miss mistakes when proof reading your own texts.

Also, almost everything in the first five or so paragraphs are underlined in my doc manager, any idea why? Could it be something with a language setting? Or am I just that terrible when it comes to writing D:

see you next time.


	2. Chapter 2 Pt1 Harry

Disclaimer: I only own my OCs, the monster revealed in the start of this chapter, and others (to be revealed at later date), and the parts of the plot that I'm changing. Also I don't make any money from this work.

* * *

_**Eleven years later.**_

It was a chilly night, a lonesome small figure was limping, on all four, down a dimly lit street. It was leaving a small trail behind itself, made of some dark liquid that seemed to evaporate after a few seconds once it hit the cold ground. The liquid was coming from a small gash on it's swollen and burnt cheekbone. The creature was a rarity, most of its kind was feared by all others. However, this one seemed to be a rarity even amongst its own kind. The type of was usually very difficult to harm on a physical level, and even after fighting magical beings they usually left unscathed. But the figure currently limping down the street was clearly physically injured as it couldn't walk normally and it was bleeding from a large gash on its face.

The normal ending of an encounter involving one of it's kind was the other part running away in fear. This was usually not different for the one currently limping down the street except that it tended to get injured first unlike the rest of its kind. Most might have assumed this was because it was simply weaker than the others. A more experienced eye would have seen the young age of this one, and the worrisome power it already controlled.

* * *

"Boy!" The yell could be heard through the entire house at privet drive number four but not much further, "Boy! Get out here and fix breakfast!" the slightly slurred voice suggested whoever was yelling clearly wasn't sober. The door to cupboard located under the stairs could be seen slowly opening. This was a very strange phenomenon as noone was around to open it, and it was completely shut before it began opening. Soon enough the cause could be seen as a slightly bruised arm barely consisting of more than bone and skin could be seen reaching out from inside pushing it open to reveal an equally thin and and scarred boy.

He moved quickly for his size, entering the kitchen and started frying some eggs not uttering a sound. "We'll be shopping school supplies for Dudley... and you today." the same slurred voice said. "Make sure to cook enough, we're not going to eat until we get back." The boy didn't reply as he knew the drunk would just get mad no matter what he said. So he opted to just keep cooking in silence preparing a slightly larger breakfast then normal, to much and he'd get blamed for wasting resources after all.

Such was life for the little boy when it came to just about anything. Be perfect or get punished, he was adopted by the family that lived at number four privet drive. Needing to do most chores in the house and doing them without a single flaw, as in this case cooking to much was not acceptable and neither was cooking to little. Getting higher grade than Dudley on a test, not acceptable, getting to low a grade, neither acceptable. Always needing to walk on this fine line he had developed a mask like behaviour, always trying to figure out exactly what to do to please whoever he met in order to not get punished, instead of acting the way he thought was right himself.

Apparently his parents had been drunks who one day drank to much and got a brain damage causing them to be catatonic wasting tax money and space at the hospital. According to his relatives at least, they had never let him go to the hospital so he could never confirm this. But he was a smart boy, smart enough to fake his knowledge so perfectly to get just the grades he wanted. He realised it was probably a lie, there was no reason he wouldn't be allowed to visit at least once if it was as simple as that. He figured his uncle, Vernon Dursley, was the most probable person on the planet to end up in the condition he claimed his parents to be in.

The ten year old child, to be eleven in a couple of days, reached for the pan now containing two fried eggs, just barely reaching over the kitchen range despite his age. Long term starvation had caused him to grow a lot shorter than what's normal for his age. After putting the eggs on a plate he quickly started frying another two eggs before he went for the pantry to get some bread. Everything was done with perfection that one could have only achieve from cooking breakfast every morning. As he finished the eggs he served them on the table with the bread and some butter and juice that he picked from the refrigerator. All finished he silently walked back into the cupboard and closed it behind himself.

As Dudley noticed the smell of fried eggs he ran down the stairs taking care to jump a couple of times right over the cupboard yelling "Breakfast is ready!", a small amount of dust fell from the ceiling of the cupboard. The boy living there had started dusting the interior every week since his cousin had developed that habit, causing the amount of dust raining down on him to be minimal.

Soon enough all dursleys sat around the table enjoying the breakfast, all of them clearly liking the food presented. The Dursley child put on a fake disgusted face as he took another bite from the egg he was eating, "Daddy I think this was burnt" he said. Vernons face instantly turned several shades redder as blood was pumping to his head, a vein clearly standing out on his forehead. "Boy. No breakfast for you!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, it was odd the boy thought, how he could yell so loud all the time and still the neighbours never noticed, never heard.

He knew this because he had tried to ask for help from the neighbours at a young age, and even tried to report the abuse to the teachers at school. But he quickly found out telling others was not an option, especially not any adults. All they did was ask his relatives what was going on, getting the same fabricated story from the Dursleys every time. With faked sadness they quietly explained that _"Harry has a… condition, he's prone to violence and… he lies a lot."_ the story repeated to so many different people they started confirming it for each other instead of investigating. Children didn't ask, they just laughed at him, having heard the stories from their parents. Nobody who heard the occasional yells of his uncle would think Harry was the insane one.

This also led to the Dursleys finding out he had blabbed, causing them to punish him more. With all the punishments he received, many physical, he quickly realised his body was remarkable at recovery. This in itself had led to more punishments at times, such as when they had once shaved all his hair off only for it to grow back overnight. That incident had ended with a beating, and forced him to be locked in his cupboard for two days with only a couple of glasses with water to live on.

the boy mentally prepared himself for a long day in the city, days like these were dangerous. As Vernon would be careful not to do anything suspicious in public it was very difficult to tell how hard the punishments would be when they got home. Harry could hear the sound of Dudleys stomach groaning through the cupboard door and realised this day was completely and utterly ruined even before it began.

The door to his cupboard was slammed open and he was roughly thrown towards the kitchen counter. His thin arm breaking with a quiet snap, biting down on his lip not a single sound escaped him and no tears left his eyes. A broken arm he had dealt with before, most likely it would be healed by the end of the week. But he knew it would make his following task nearly impossible. "Well, what are u waiting for freak," another name the Dursleys frequently used when calling him. "Get started Dudley. Is. Still. Hungry."

The fact that it was not a yelled order did nothing to soothe Harry's fear for the coming punishments after their trip. He quickly scrambled to his feet, starting on a fifth egg, the smell of frying eggs now making his mouth water slightly. Vernon noticed his arm was hanging limp and swore. Normally he wouldn't do anything about it as the child's arm would heal quickly anyway. But today they were going to leave the house with him and people would notice if he walked around with a broken arm and no bandages.

He went to fetch the first aid kit sitting at the bottom of the pantry and picked up the bandages, waiting for Harry to finish the egg before he roughly wrapped the fabric around the boy's arm. Using a bit too much force causing the bloodstream to slow slightly and causing the lower arm to turn a slightly red hue. Not as red as his uncles face currently was but still noticeable to anyone looking closely enough.

* * *

Twenty minutes later saw the four of them sitting in a car, Petunia in the driving seat because Vernon was clearly not sober enough. The drive to the inner city went without any incidents, the dursleys having enough sense to not start anything while they were in traffic. At least the elder ones. Dudley was simply to happy about getting things harry didn't to notice he had him as a punching bag in the seat right next to him. He always got something extra when they went shopping.

They stepped out of the car after Petunia parked it along the walkway, harry followed quietly a few steps behind them. As the day passed slowly without any more incidents Harry knew the trip had been to good so far to remain that way. Getting lost in thought about all the things that could go wrong, with his hunger growing, he didn't notice the girl with long bushy brown hair looking slightly older than him standing right in his path eating Ice cream.

Luckily for Harry the Dursleys didn't notice and kept walking as the girl fell with a startled yell. Harry fell on top of her with the Ice cream splashing against his right leg causing a damp spot to form. Panicking he quickly rose from her and was relieved to find his broken glasses were still sitting firmly on his nose. He looked around for the Dursleys, not finding them nearby he reached out his uninjured arm extending his hand to the girl helping her up. "Sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going," he muttered quietly. The girl took the hand and began pulling herself up, she quickly let go as soon as she realised the boy in front of her was nearly falling over her again from the weight.

Taking a quick look at him she said, "Sorry about the trousers." Of course the damp spot wasn't the only thing she noticed. The obviously unprofessionally attached bandage was the first thing she took note of, the slightly red hand was the second thing she noticed. "Hermione, Hermione granger." She stated after a while, earning a confused look from the boy who had looked scared until then. "Well what's your name?" She asked, Harry suddenly understood and replied, "Harry… Potter, I think?". She thought that was a rather odd answer, someone his age shouldn't be unsure of what his name was. "Potter, you think?" She asked.

Harry looked uncomfortable, his eyes soon found the smashed Ice cream in her hand. "Yeah," he started slowly. "I'm not certain but that's the name noone answered to when the teacher called up names first day of school." He said with a weak smile, privately wondering why anyone would spend so much effort learning a freaks name. Noticing him looking at the Ice cream, she said "oh, don't worry about it I'll get my parents buy a new one for me," of course she knew they would never agree to that. She had to sneak away to buy it in the first place, they were dentists after all. But Harry didn't know that.

"You don't want it?" the boy asked, before he asked if he could take it. Quickly making up a lie about wanting to toss it in the trash bin for her since he was the one to ruin it for her. As she handed it to him, he noticed a very red faced Vernon heading their way from afar. He forced the Ice cream back in her hand without anything more than a sorry expression as explanation and started walking away from her towards his uncle, not wanting to cause more trouble for the girl.

Hermione couldn't help but overhear the conversation taking place a couple of feet away from her, "What are you doing here! you were supposed to follow at a short distance the entire time." The red faced man hissed quietly. "Sorry, I got lost." Harry replied. The red faced man seemed to have noticed the damp spot on his leg because his eyes were suddenly fixed there. "What have you done to Dudleys old trousers boy!" While completely pissed of the man somehow managed to keep the yell quiet enough to not draw too much attention.

Hermione, wanting to help the boy out opened her mouth planning to say it was her fault. But she never got the chance as she in shock listened to the boy saying he had peed in his pants in fright when he got lost. Why would he say that she wondered desperately, incredibly stupid. That was the category she put the boy in after she heard that silly explanation, there was no way the man wouldn't notice there was no smell. And how the hell was that a better alternative to _"Oh, I just accidentally walked into that girl holding a Ice cream over there."_

She didn't get much time to think about it before the man bent low towards the boy and whispering something to him, she only caught the two first words but they were worrisome enough. No dinner, that could hardly be the beginning of something nice. He then told Harry to get back to their car and wait inside. She watched as the boy slowly turned without another sound and started to walk back in her direction quickly passing with a pleading expression and an outstretched arm. She was confused at first before she remembered the Ice cream she was holding and quickly handed it to him, silently doubting he was going to throw it away.

Harry didn't have to wonder long about why he subconsciously had defended the other girl. He realised Vernon would just assume he was trying to put the blame on someone else and punish him harder for that. And then he'd probably even go and tell the girls parents about the incident turning them against him as well. Better lie and take the lesser punishment here he thought.

* * *

That day had ended the way you'd expect it too, Harry was sent to his cupboard after a loud yelling. No beating necessary as he already had one broken bone, the promise of no food, no light, and only a couple of glasses of water for a couple of days was enough for the Dursleys.

It was the second time ever he'd gotten that punishment. This time however the only thing he'd put in his mouth throughout the entire day before he got thrown in the cupboard was the lower half of a Ice cream. It was two days into his punishment that he heard a frightened yell from petunia. That couldn't be good he thought. As the door to the cupboard opened his fears for more punishments only grew, he couldn't take this. Not after three days with nothing more than a half Ice cream and two glasses of water, he remembered from a biology lesson that the human body could barely survive more than two days without water.

"please," the plea was barely audible and came out raspy from his dry throat. To his surprise he wasn't thrown out of the cupboard, but rather lifted out and brought to the dinner table. Soon enough there was a meal on it ready for him to eat, he didn't dare though. Only after the Dursleys gave him the ok did he start to cautiously eat from the food, smelling and tasting it carefully before swallowing.

One hour later, an incredibly confused Harry was sitting on the bed of a small room. His eyes looking at the broken toys littering the shelves along the far wall. What the hell? was the only thought running through his head since he had entered Dudleys old room. After some time when could start thinking again he thought maybe the police had come for a visit asking about him. But it seemed unlikely, they wouldn't have left without seeing him would they? Maybe the Dursleys managed to convince them he wasn't there at the moment?

He didn't think he'd ever find out unless they visited again, he certainly wouldn't ask. As he'd just eaten a huge meal after an extended period if starvation he felt extremely tired so lied down in his new bed and pulled the worn covers over his shoulder falling asleep in just a couple of seconds. He dreamed of a large field of grass, he was flashing around in it. Never in one spot for more than a couple of seconds before he suddenly appeared somewhere else.

It was a pleasant dream he had frequently, the moment he started having them was after an unpleasant accident. Well the accident had unpleasant consequences. He had been chased by Dudley and his gang of bullies from school, when all of a sudden he found himself on the roof of the school with no way of getting down. When Vernon and Petunia Dursley had found out he'd been sent to his cupboard without a word. That was usually the scariest punishments, not knowing how long, not knowing how much food or water he'd get, just simply being sent into the cupboard without any information at all. It was a pleasant change from the nightly nightmares of beatings he sometimes woke up screaming from.

His dream of the warm grassfield was rudely interrupted by the angry yell of his uncle from outside. After getting over the initial confusion as to where he was sleeping his curiosity dragged him to the window. As he looked outside he saw his uncle glaring at a very strange looking old man, maybe in his 100's harry joked to himself judging from the long white beard he was sporting. "I'm sorry didn't you get the letter?" the old man asked, "I was quite sure I stated I would be coming to help Harry get to diagon alley to get his supplies for school." He stated.

His uncle started yelling something unintelligible, finishing with "you freaks are not allowed here!". The old man simply looked at him with an amused smile the through the whole rant and said "I understand completely what you're saying," even though it was clear he barely understood half of it. He then pulled out a wooden stick from his right sleeve and waved it in front of his uncles face. Was he barmy? Harry asked himself, maybe the old man had come for a worthy and violent death instead of a hospital bed?

His confusion grew as his uncle turned around with a slightly pale face and hurriedly walked indoors leaving the door open for the old madman to enter. "That was strange" he said to himself. Then the old man's previous words registered and he realised he had come for him… but why would he go shopping for school supplies again? Didn't the Dursleys get them for him after he was sent away?

his thoughts were interrupted as his door opened revealing the old man smiling down at him through his half moon glasses. From this distance he noticed the eyes twinkled slightly, it was a bit unnerving still slightly calming he thought. "I see you've not been fed properly," the old man said sadly, the twinkle lessening a bit but not disappearing. "Here," he said, as he placed 4 vials filled with liquid on the bedside table. "I want you to take one of these once a week after dinner, until you're of to hogwarts. They are nutrient potions." "Hogwarts sir?" Harry asked in confusion. "Why would I just drink something an old madman gives me with little to no reason?"

The old man looked sad at the questions, "They didn't tell you about Hogwarts? Please tell me you at least know about magic?" The headmaster of course already strongly suspected he didn't, it was very good for his plan to get the boy to trust him. "No, they haven't told me about any Hogwarts whatever that is, but I already know magic doesn't exist they've told me that plenty of times," he confirmed the old man's suspicions. While his belief in magic was pretty strong he wouldn't tell anyone, that would only end in punishments.

"Well, first off Harry. Magic is very much real… second, Hogwarts… is a school, that teaches young witches and wizards, to control their gift. A school of which I am headmaster at" He spoke softly and very slowly to let it all sink in as he talked. "I believe you." Harry said simply, after thinking about all strange things that seemed to happen to him, teleporting to school roofs and regrowing bones and hair at way to fast rate to be normal. Speaking of which, his broken arm had healed completely yesterday a short while before he was let out of the cupboard. Only a fool would say magic didn't exist after all of that.

"I take it this means they didn't show you the letter I sent yesterday either?" the headmaster asked. "No they didn't," he said. Just as the headmaster was about to speak again Harry came to think of something, "Headmaster? Headmaster, did… since I'm a wizard… my parents, did they have... 'the gift'... as well?". Asking about his parents was difficult for him, he was usually punished for it, he was also a bit uncomfortable with the subject since he couldn't make sure his relatives were wrong about them being drunks.

He didn't have to wait long before the headmaster replied in sad voice "Yes, yes of course they were." He was silent for a moment before he added, "You see it's well known in the magical community that the child is usually more magically powerful if both parent are magical as well."

Harry thought the headmaster sounded a bit too much like a bigot, for a headmaster at a school, with that last sentence. Things being well known hardly made them facts. But maybe he had proof and just didn't care to explain it to a child, that would make some sense. "Where are my manners!" the old man said suddenly. "Dumbledore, my name is Albus Dumbledore." He skipped his usual introduction with all titles, thinking it would only harm his relationship with the boy if he came of as to politically invested and such.

"Well then, should we go?" Harry asked, "I think you said we'd be going to get school supplies." Albus didn't reply but extended his hand touching Harry's shoulder before saying, "This might feel a little bit…" He said before they were gone in a bright flash, a loud crack sounding through the house. "Uncomfortable…" The old madman finished, as they seemingly teleported to a dimly lit bar.

* * *

So this chapter became to long and I had to split it in two sorry about that. If there's a way to post longer chaps please let me know : )


	3. Chapter 2 Pt2 Harry

Disclaimer: I only own my OC's and the plot changes. And I make no money from this fic at all.

* * *

Looking at Harry the headmaster was confused to see him completely fine without any sign of discomfort or nausea. "Oh I don't know sir. That didn't feel so bad?" he half asked, but didn't expect any response. "Oh, usually people find it hard to stand straight for a couple of minutes after their first experience of apparition." The headmaster explained simply.

So that's what it's called the boy thought as he remembered the teleporting incident at school. Clearly remembering the event as if it was yesterday, scared as he had been at the moment that memory would likely never leave him. He followed the headmaster as he walked through the bar and went to the right of the counter, lightly tapping a brick on the wall with his stick. Harry watched in fascination as the entire wall opened up revealing a busy street on the other side.

Not waiting for the headmaster he stepped through the wall and into the bright light from the sun on the other side. Beautiful was the one word coming to his mind as he took in the wide and… not so straight alley in front of him. It was so bent and crooked he could barely see the tall shining building at the end of it. He could make out the first three letters 'Gri' beautifully carved into the building, curious as to what it was he asked Dumbledore who stood patiently behind him

"That's Gringotts bank, out first stop today." The headmaster said before he started walking down the alley in a slow pace as Harry followed watching every building they walked passed trying to imprint as many details as possible into his memory. As they reached the shiny building Harry noticed there were two guards outside, he assumed guarding was their duty as they were wearing something that looked a lot like armor made out of the largest scales he'd ever seen.

However that was not what was most eye catching about them, he noticed that while he was extremely short for his age, the guards where… almost a head shorter than himself. As they kept walking and entered the building, he was met with a shining warning message at the end of the vaulted ceiling. The golden letters forming a beautiful yet terrifying poem,

**Enter stranger, but take heed**

**Of what awaits the sin of greed,**

**For those who take but do not earn,**

**Must pay dearly in their turn,**

**So if you seek beneath our floors**

**A treasure that was never yours,**

**Thief, you have been warned,**

**Of finding more than treasure there.**

Harry cautiously followed Dumbledore after reading the warning, eyes open, looking for anything out of place that might end the two of them before they could say greed. "Relax Harry," Dumbledore said laughing slightly, "You're not going to steal anything are you? If not you have nothing to worry about." He said trying to calm the young boy. As they neared a both they were greeted by another extremely short person, harry silently wondered if there was a length requirement when applying for work here.

"Yes?" the teller asked in a gruff and dark voice. "We're here to take out money," Dumbledore spoke for them. "Name and key." The teller said sharply. Dumbledore looked at Harry expectantly, the boy remained silent for a moment wondering what he wanted before he realised the headmaster wouldn't be paying for the school supplies. "Harry Potter… I don't know about keys though. Sir," The teller looked at him sharply before speaking, "That's alright mister Potter. We can take a simple blood test right here to confirm who you are." He reached behind the counter pulling forth a slightly yellow parchment and a large... dagger, while he spoke.

He placed the parchment on the counter and the dagger on top of it, "Well what are you waiting for? Just a few drops on the parchment," the teller said a bit irritated after a few seconds of silence. Harry realising he was supposed to drop his blood on the old paper took the dagger and pecked his fingertip with it causing a few drops to fall. "No not like that!" it was obvious the teller was losing his patience now, "you need to cut your hand, most of the blood cells get crushed when you press it through the finger tip." he explained sounding a bit angry at having to explain everything.

"Sorry sir, I didn't know sir." Harry said quietly cowering a bit from the harsh tone of the teller. As harry took the dagger again he quickly cut his palm open letting the blood drop on the parchment, he was so used to pain by now he didn't even blink from the cut. Something that went unnoticed by the headmaster behind him but not the teller in front of him. Most wizards were not used to pain, at all. being able to use magic for most tasks allowed them to take less risks.

Harry took a moment to study the teller a bit, startled when he saw two pointed ears. Noticing the teller looking at him intently he felt very uncomfortable and tried to make himself smaller, unsuccessfully. He looked down on the paper again seeing his blood starting to move forming words, 'Harry Potter' it began. Slowly forming more words, Heir Potter, came next. That was pretty obvious he thought, but as the blood kept moving starting to form the letter L the teller quickly took the parchment from the counter and hid it below saying "some things shown on this parchment are for your eyes only Harry".

Giving the teller a suspicious look the headmaster spoke, "I'm sure he wouldn't mind," "I'm sure, Dumbledore. Nonetheless the words on this parchment are for his eyes only. If he wishes to share he can tell you later, now give us some privacy." The tone said this was final, the headmaster complied and walked away from the booth waiting to be called back.

The teller pulled up the parchment again, the blood had stopped moving after completing the last line. 'Lord Slytherin' it said. Confused Harry asked if there was any reason why he shouldn't tell the headmaster about it. "You… you don't really know anything do you? Anything at all?" Harry looked afronted at that, "I'm not stupid if that's what you're asking. Sir" he said an angry tone to his voice. "No that's not what I meant. You just don't know anything about the magical world do you? Harry Potter, Not knowing the four houses of Hogwarts, who could have thought." He said the last part absentmindedly.

"Sir, Slytherin, why shouldn't I tell the headmaster. Please sir," he was getting tired of being ridiculed by the short teller. "Right, Hogwarts… Hogwarts was founded by four people, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and... Salazar Slytherin." The teller began his explanation in a slow voice making sure the child in front of him understood. "They created four student houses, separating the students into student houses. The founders valued different traits in their students, Slytherin… Slytherin valued cunning and ambitiousness, he also prefered to take in pure blooded wizards and witches. Thinking they were stronger than the others." Harry still not understanding asked why this should make him keep the lordship from the headmaster.

"Recently, there has been a lot of… Dark witches and wizards coming from that student house, it has clouded the eyes of many making them think that all who come from the house is dark and evil. Dumbledore… while he knows this isn't true, even as headmaster he isn't trying to do anything to stop this bigotry, my guess is that he is gaining something from this view of that house. And I shudder to think what he would do with the knowledge of you being the lord of that house."

As the teller finished his speech Harry took almost a minute think through everything, "Alright I think i understand better now sir." He said. "There's more, but that's for a later date, what you need to know is that your full name should now be Harry James Slytherin Potter, but don't run around throwing the Slytherin name around." The short teller said before looking towards Dumbledore, "I think your headmaster is getting restless now."

The teller looked conflicted about something before he finally spoke, "By the way, we could look more into how you got that lordship here at gringotts if you'd like, I don't think you have time for that right now though." The teller said before he burned the parchment calling Dumbledore over. The headmaster not looking happy about being excluded from their conversation. Harry was at a crossroad, on one hand he wanted to tell Dumbledore about the lordship, he seemed like a nice old man so far. On the other hand, Harry had only known the man for… yeah less then a hour, which made him very cautious about him, people could put up fake fronts Harry if anyone knew this.

"Griphook!" The teller yelled with his head turned away from them. Another miniature man entered his vision from the side coming with long strides… well as long as a miniature person could take he thought. "This is Harry Potter, here to take out money." The teller said gruffly. "Mr Potter. A pleasure to finally meet you." Griphook said with a wide grin revealing a row of sharp yellowed teeth. "I used to work for your parents… before… well let's not talk about that. Follow me." He said the last two words quickly wanting to scratch out the comments about Harry's parents.

As griphook strode towards a door at the far end of the room Dumbledore and Harry followed, "You currently only have access to your trust vault Mr Potter. That's where we'll be going" Griphook said as he opened the door revealing a small narrow room with a cart on a rail in it. "Please keep your heads low while we ride," He said before sitting in the front of the cart waiting for them to get in. As they were all sitting securely in the cart the miniature man in front of them pulled a lever on the side causing the cart to slowly roll forward. Until the downward tilt of the rail slowly accelerated the cart into a maddening speed.

The cart didn't seem to have anything controlling its movement, except one break, nothing to slow it with, nothing to accelerate it with. Just one start and stop lever. Harry was green in the face as the cart finally stopped. He remained in the cart calming his breath for a full minute before following Griphook who stood grinning madly next too Dumbledore. As he slowly and unsteadily left the cart the two others had already started moving towards the small metal doors near the track.

Griphook used his key to unlock the door but didn't open it, "You first Mr Potter, it's your vault after all." Harry turned the handle and opened revealing a small room on the other side. While the room was small, Harry noted, it was still a room filled with gold. All stocked in a huge pile. There must be at least fifty thousand gold coins here he thought, this can't be mine. "Fifty thousand galleons," the miniature man started as if reading his mind. "twelve sickles, and nineteen knuts… for school supplies I recommend that you take about two hundred and fifty galleons for you school supplies, that will get you roughly one point two thousand pounds for reference,"

Harry thought it seemed a bit overkill for an eleven year old student to pay over a thousand pounds for school supplies. He asked about it, "The school usually pays for those who can't pay for themselves," Dumbledore said, who had remained silent so far studying the gold in his vault. "Some of the material, such as the cauldrons needed for potions class can be quite expensive if you want anything with quality. You will also need to buy wizarding robes, a wand and a suitcase to store all your school supplies in, all in all it adds up to quite a lot."

"What does the different things you just listed cost? And a wand? Is that what stick the headmaster uses to perform magic, sir?" Griphook looked annoyed by all the questions, the only thing he was happy about was that the child apparently cared about how much gold things costed. He had to admit though that he was rather amused by the child, it was unusual for any wizard to actually show any form of respect to workers of the bank. But the boy kept calling him sir.

"You know… you shouldn't go around calling us goblins sir, it might put you in a bad light too other wizards." Griphook whispered to his ear making sure the headmaster didn't overhear. "But… but you keep all our money safe, I think it would be stupid to not show respect to someone keeping all my gold safe."

The boy said in a low voice also trying to keep the headmaster out. Griphook thought Harry looked like he wanted to say something else.

"Well, what's on your mind? Out with it." He said gruffly. Harry looked uncomfortable for a moment before he started with uncertainty, "Oh I was just thinking. Goblin huh? Well it rolls better on the tongue than miniature man, I was hoping I wouldn't have to refer to you as such in my head forever," Harry said, wondering if part of himself had a deathwish. However the dangerous look he was given by Griphook when the goblin asked what he was thinking about broke no argument.

Griphook roared with laughter. Completely ignoring Harry's worried look, he began filling a small pouch that he pulled from his belt with gold from his vault. Harry watched with amazement as the pouch didn't seem to fill at all. After a while the goblin put the pouch in his left hand seeming to weight it, before he handed it to harry.

"Here you go" he said handing the pouch over "that should be two hundred and fifty galleons," he clarified before he said in a serious voice "we usually charge ten galleons for the pouch. But since you're polite you will get it for free,"

"As for the other prices you have asked about, a wand costs fifteen galleons at Ollivander's wand shop, I guess you could get a cheap suitcase for about thirty galleons but that's hardly something recommended. The same goes for the cauldron. Add the term books and robes and you should have about 50 galleons left to spend on whatever you want." Dumbledore frowned a bit as he listened to the goblin, "you seem well informed about what my students need Griphook?" The goblin looked at Dumbledore as if he was stupid. "Please Mr Dumbledore, we get several customers asking for help with prices for school supplies from every age, every year. Since you don't inform them in our letters we've looked around for our selves in order to help the students coming here"

It was clear from the tone used by Griphook he was disappointed by how the school managed the information distribution to the students. The lack of information heavily favoured the purebloods who were already familiar with the economy and didn't need any help. The half bloods didn't have much problems but there were cases when they needed help as well, but the muggleborns, every single one of them were literally walking with a blindfold when they came to the wizarding world as all they knew was that they were accepted to hogwarts, and had the list of items required for the term.

This meant the bank was a bit preoccupied with muggleborns at the start of every term, when they'd much rather spend the time on making more profit. "Oh, I don't know I think the information is well enough. I have never heard a complaint about it from the students, and the ministry has never said something so clearly it can't be that bad." The headmaster said, of course the reason the ministry never mentioned it needed changing was probably due to Dumbledore currently being the chief warlock.

"Should we be going then?" Harry said weakly, not wanting the mood to darken any further. He started walking towards the cart, Griphook was the first to follow a sour expression on his face. He sat in the front again waiting for dumbledore to sit as well. As soon as they were all secure in the cart again griphook took the front of the cart in both hands and channeled some goblin magic into it. And just as that they were suddenly back in the room they first entered the cart in. "What was that?" Harry asked, the goblin grinned at him. "No slowing mechanism and no accelerating mechanism Mr Potter, that means we can't really drive the cart back. As for how, that's for goblins to know… and you to not find out." He said, Harry paling as he realised the cart was truly just that a cart with a lever, and nothing magical about it at all.

As soon as they were out of the small room Dumbledore said he had something else to do in the bank. Something important apparently, and told Harry to wait for him in the entrance hall. "Dumbledore, could I go start the shopping on my own? I have the list of items and the gold needed after all." He could take care of himself, had been forced to even, a long time ago. "I can't stop you harry, I'd prefer you didn't. Just stay away from Knockturn alley if you decide to go," Dumbledore said after a while with a resigned face. "Thanks," was all Harry said before he left the bank.

* * *

He was eager to get away from the headmaster, he needed some time to think about what sort of man he was. He felt he had information to sort out how to act around Dumbledore without angering the man. From the disappointed look he got when he left the bank he realised ignoring the mans wishes was probably a bad idea if he wanted to keep the old man happy about him. The old man didn't seem to care much about the normal people, the people with no magic, or people with less than pure blood if his nonchalance to the banks complaint earlier was anything to go by. This was probably something he could work with, not having any fond memories of _muggles_ himself.

finishing his thought he began looking around himself thinking, I should probably get a wand first, that seems to be a tool to channel magic through. He looked around, and soon found a sign saying Ollivanders, remembering this was the shop he was recommended to get a wand from he moved over to the shop and entered. As he walked in there was a soft tingling sound coming from the door before it shut. Seeing noone around the shop he walked to the empty counter.

Looking around he found rows after rows of shelves filled with small rectangular boxes. When he had waited for about a minute in the shop he thought about calling for someone to help him with a wand, but before he could open his mouth there was a swishing sound as an old man came into his vision standing on a staircase moving at high speeds along the wall. The staircase came to a abrupt halt in front of Harry, the man standing on it jumping of and walking to the front of the counter with an eager smile on his face.

After taking a short look on the boy in front of him he suddenly said "I don't recognise your face, Mr. But those eyes I've only seen once. I'd guess you're be the son of Lily, making you Harry Potter. But I can't tell for sure." Shocked that the man could tell who he was after just a glance at his face, when he had never met the man, he was to startled to reply. Not to mention that he knew his real name and not just Freak, as most people invited to the dursleys who he hadn't met before usually called him. "And I take that look on your face as a yes Mr Potter?" Still unable to speak from his shock he simply gave a short nod.

"Well. Lets begin then, finding a wand can take… a while…" The old man said remembering the Longbottom child who had gotten his wand the other day. "Oh, and I'm Garrick Ollivander," He said before quickly disappearing behind the shelves again, but he soon came back holding 4 of the boxes that filled the store. After trying all of them not getting any reaction at all Ollivander put them back into their boxes before he left to get more ones.

About twenty minutes later with no progress, Ollivander came back from his searching another time, this time holding a bag filled with what looked like more wands. "Well Harry… I think, that the problem we are facing is that I have a too narrow collection of cores, you see when matched with wrong core it will be detrimental to the performance of the wand. If you'd like, you could try your luck elsewhere. However if you'd like to try, here are some unfinished wands that I haven't infused a core to yet... it might work well enough."

After Ollivanders explanation, Harry thought about it for a second before deciding it wouldn't hurt to try the unfinished wands if the wandmaker thought it was a good idea. "I'll test your unfinished wands first Mr Ollivander," He said as he waited for the matchmaker to begin again. Ollivander seemed to know his stuff after all, even if he hadn't found a match for him yet. "Alright let's try this one, Apple wood I think that should work well as it seems to be the wood to be reacting best to you so far, seven and a half inches very short one this is, short and very flexible." He described the wand as he had with all others before handing it over.

"As it doesn't have a core it will be slightly weaker than most wands, but if it matches it will still be better than a normal wand with an incompatible core," he said as Harry took the wand in his right hand. The reaction was apparently what Ollivander had been hoping for as a few beautifully colored sparks flew from the wand, Harry sighed in relief. Silently praying whenever he held a new wand, 'please don't explode, please don't explode,' while none of them had actually exploded some had… well lets just say it would take the wand maker some time to repair the shop after he was finished.

"Wonderful," the wandmaker said, "it's not a perfect match no, but no wizard should be perfectly matched with a coreless wand." Ollivander looked happy to have finally found a wand that didn't react poorly to his tricky customer. "Apple wood, not the most powerful of wandwoods no but still quite strong. You'll find dark magic to be very difficult to perform with it, but light magic will flow easier through it than any other wandwood." The wandmaker explained.

"Oh and most of my old customers, that has wands from this rare wandwood, have told me they have been able to… understand… magical creatures on a whole new level. Almost as if they can instinctively talk to almost any magical being. Very interesting ability I think, but be careful not to share it with the wrong people if you find yourself with this gift. There are many who frown on such abilities… labelling them as dark even." After giving all the necessary information about the apple wood he set off to explain the other characteristics of the wand.

"It's very short," he began slowly. "This usually means it's a bit weaker but more versatile than normal, the same goes for the flexibility, I think you will find it very easy to switch between different branches of magics with this wand on a moments notice," Ollivander finished. It's a bit sad I couldn't find you a compatible core though," he said with a frown.

"Tell you what, I'll lend you a book with instructions on how to infuse a core in case you find a magical substance that is well attuned to you." Ollivander said as he pulled out a small and slightly worn book from under the counter. "It's quite easy really, the difficulties of crafting a wand comes in preparing the wood, the core is just infused with a push of magic to give it that little extra punch when using spells."

"That will be ten galleons for the wand by the way, as it doesn't have a core I couldn't possibly charge you the standard fifteen," Harry opened his money bag and picked out fifteen gold coins despite the wandmakers words thanking for the wand and saying the rest was as a thanks for the loaned book. He then left the shop in a hurry wanting to put as much distance between himself and the explosive sticks as possible, putting his wand in his front pocket of the trousers.

* * *

He sat down at a place selling the best Ice cream he'd ever had. Not that this said very much as the only experience he had with eating ice cream was the half crushed one from a couple of days before. As he sat and ate in silence he sorted out all information he was lectured about concerning his wand.

"Right" he said to himself, next I need robes so I can fit in better. He thought he'd also enjoy wearing clothes that actually fit him for once, all previous clothing being oversized hand me downs from his overweight cousin Dudley. Looking at the shop signs he found something that looked like a dress with a needle sticking through it. Walking towards it through the heavily crowded alley he soon saw the name of the shop 'Madam Malkin's robes for all occasions' it said.

He was confused as he entered the shop seeing only a low amount of clothes lining the walls and a few platforms near the center, spotting a blonde boy looking about his own age being measured on one of the platforms. "Hi, I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy," the boy said pompously when he noticed he was being watched. Harry vaguely recognising the introduction from one of the movies his cousin used to watch.

Harry was pretty sure the blonde, Draco, was a pureblood probably one of those thinking themselves above the rest as well judging from his introduction. "What? What's so funny? Is there something on my face?" Malfoy asked as he noticed the amused expression on the boy in front of him.

Harry responded after a moment of hesitation "No, don't worry about it. Just your greeting sounded a lot like something I remembered from a movie." He said with a small smile, not having actually seen the movie himself only heard the sound of it through the cupboard door. "Filthy mudblood," Harry heard the hissed whisper coming from Malfoy after the blonde had recognised the muggle term 'movie'.

"What's your name by the way?" Malfoy asked in a rude tone. "Harry." Harry responded shortly, not wanting to say anything more to the other boy. Mudblood, he thought to himself wondering about the new word he'd never heard. It was likely an insulting term to those with muggle parents, thinking about it he understood that's exactly what it is. Mudblood simply the opposite of pureblood. Implying someone had mud in their blood, hell that's lower than the Dursley's insults he realised.

Not too soon a young woman entered the room from a door in the back the shop. After spotting Harry standing alone at the entrance she quickly called him over to one of the platforms. "So? What would you be looking for today young sir," she asked kindly. "Just school robes,"Harry replied.

He entertained the idea of getting some casual wizarding robes for the extra money he had, but figured he'd never use them since he was staying at the dursleys. As the woman began measuring him he came to think about how the Dursleys had treated him last night, giving him a full meal for once and letting him sleep in Dursleys old room. He also remembered the nutrient potions the headmaster had given him previously.

"Ma'am, I might grow a bit, before the school year starts." He said silently hoping that the new treatment from his relatives would continue. "I've recently started to take my health more seriously." The woman looked at him for a moment before she spoke with a small smile "alright, I will add a small bit to the length of your robes then." When she was done measuring him she left through the same door she had appeared from.

A tall man with blonde, slicked hair entered the shop while he was waiting for his robes. Harry glanced at him, probably Malfoy senior he thought. The man was resembling him a great deal and he walked with arrogance holding a black polished cane in his left hand, harry noticed it had a silver skull at the top.

"Everything going well draco?" He asked, and harry saw Draco straighten slightly when he noticed the older man. "Yes father, but…" he started, "but what?" Malfoy sr asked his eyes scanning the room stopping at Harry for a moment sending shivers down his spine.

The moment was over in less than a second to Harry's relief, then remembered why he was cross with the other boy as he spoke again. "Father. I think we should find some other place to buy our clothes from, this place… it seems to attract the wrong sort of customers." He looked at Harry after finishing his sentence causing his father to look at him again, for longer this time.

Harry turned his eyes away quickly, hearing the blonde man agree to his sons comment a second later. "Come draco let's find a place somewhere in Knockturn instead." He said before slowly turning around and walking out the door with Draco following, glaring angrily at Harry.

"I'm sorry, i made your customer leave." Harry said with regret in his voice, looking down at the floor waiting for some form of punishment. "I could pay for whatever he was going to buy," he said weakly trying to save himself.

"Don't be silly child," came the stern voice from the white haired woman who had tended to Malfoy. "I didn't want him in my shop in the first place but I can't be rude to any customers, bad for business." She said in a little happier voice.

"So you are Madam Malkin then? It's a nice shop you have," Harry said with a smile, like always, trying to stay as far away from the danger of angering anyone as possible. Because really, he didn't find much nice about the shop except the shopkeepers. It was too empty, too open, making him feel like he was put on display earlier when he was being measured.

"Well then," the young woman who had been measuring him earlier said as she returned. "Your robes are finished," she said handing them to him. "That will be twenty two galleons and 9 sickles." Harry paid twenty three galleons telling them to keep the change, it was the least he could do after the Malfoys had left.

* * *

As he stepped out of the shop he was quickly found by Dumbledore. The rest of the day was rather uneventful, he got a beautiful snowy owl from a pet shop. Deciding its name was tricky but he ended up with hedwig as the owl seemed to like it. A two compartment trunk with expanding charms for his school equipment. As well as all the books he needed.

While they were at the bookstore, Harry asked for a book about magical creatures, as he had been told he might be able to understand them better due to his wand wood. The shopkeeper had gladly given him a copy of Fantastic beasts and where to find them, by Newt Scamander, for a slightly discounted price.

Harry came to think about his parents as they were headed back towards the pub they had entered from. Probably associating them with the alcohol sold at such a place. "Headmaster, I was wondering, since my parents were… are magical. Are they staying at a magical hospital or something? I was never allowed to see them by my relatives." Dumbledore looked sad after the boy had finished talking, he would have never wanted to keep him that far away from his real parents. He never believed the Dursleys would actually forbid him from visiting his parents.

"Yes Harry, they are currently in st mungos. Do you want to visit them?" Dumbledore asked tentatively. Harry was thinking about saying no, he didn't want to confirm the stories he'd heard from his relatives. "Yes." He said finally, the need to find out what state they were truly in winning against the fear. "I'll apparate us to the hospital for a short visit before we get you back home then." He thought it was heartening that the dursleys had at least mentioned that his parents needed constant medical care.

So as they entered the pub instead of going to privet drive Dumbledore took them to the hospital entrance instead. "I'm here with Harry Potter to visit his parents," Dumbledore said as they reached a counter with an old lady sitting behind it. She looked up at Harry in sadness as she heard the last name. "Oh… well you've come at the right time," she said as she checked something on a piece of paper in front of her "it seems they have been awake for a couple of hours. They are staying at the eighth floor, room seventeen."

While she spoke Harry thought about teleporting or apparition as the headmaster had called it. He wondered idly if he could replicate the feat, he'd done something similar to apparition earlier in his childhood after all.

After a quick check to confirm their identities they were led to the room. Dumbledore opened the door for Harry deciding to let him have privacy with his parents. As the boy entered the first thing he noticed was two bags with a strange liquid being connected to the two bodies that were lying on separate beds.

The second thing he noticed was that the two bodies had their eyes wide open, full of life yet staring aimlessly at the ceiling of the hospital. He couldn't take it, had his relatives been right? He tried calling out to them but got no response at all. The emerald eyes of his mother against her pale skin was all he needed to confirm who they were. Desperate to get away, he tried his best to recall the feeling he got when he escaped his bullies from school. Wanting to return home to the Dursleys for the first time of his life.

Dumbledore stood outside the hospital door looking with sadness through the small window as Harry tried calling his parents. Then he watched in shock as the boy suddenly disappeared in a bright flash. 'What the hell' he thought. That wasn't even apparition, he'd need to turn around for that.

Quickly checking one of the small instruments he always had with him he sighed in relief as he saw that Harry was safe at the Dursleys. He would need to keep a close eye on the boy, what he did in the hospital room seemed to be rather intentional and not just a burst of accidental magic. If he could replicate apparition so closely at such a young age...

AN:

Again any info on posting longer chaps are appreciated because splitting them is annoying : )

While writing this chapter I remembered the english teachers used to say that there's difference between american and british english. The dialect is obvious but there is a difference in vocabulary and grammar and such as well right? Or am I wrong here? anyway, as of right now I have no idea what those differences are, so I apologise beforehand if the chapters are coming out as a mishmash of the two until I have read up on the diffs.

Another thing I wanted to say is that I've thought about the structure of each chapter. I'm planning to make each chapter follow one of the mc's. For example I've planned to make next chapter follow Hermione. So ch1 was unique in that it described many events centered around different characters. I'm sorry if you don't like this but I won't change my mind here. also speaking of mcs, I think I'm going to slightly bash ron, he's not going to be super evil or extreme in any way, just… I don't know really :D tbh I don't want any character to come out as extreme, I don't want a single trait to be the only one focused on.

I feel like I have to mention that my knowledge when it comes to wand crafting is subpar and anything I write about it shouldn't be taken as fact in the hp universe, but as fact in this fanfic.

Oh and don't worry about Harry turning out to be infinitely powerful breaking all laws of magics and such, I would classify that as extreme :P. I realise I might have made him out to be a bit too powerful with the whole apparating thing but it will all be explained later in the story I guess.

If my chapters are going to keep this length they will not keep coming so often :( I think updates will be farther appart then this one. However the time I used to spend reading is now mainly spent writing and correcring stuff so hopefully it wont be too far between the updates.


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